Prostate Cancer

Prostate cancer is the most common cause of death from cancer in men over 75 years old. It is the third most common cause of death from cancer in men of all ages. Men at higher risk include African-America men older than 60, farmers, tire plant workers, painters, and especially men exposed to cadmium. The lower risk group include Japanese men and vegetarians.

The prostate is located beneath the bladder and surrounds, the tube that carries urine out through the penis, the urethra. Prostate cancer, by definition is a cancerous (malignant) tumor in the prostate gland, a small walnut-sized gland in men that makes seminal fluid, which helps carry sperm out of the body. Prostate cancer can spread beyond the prostate gland and be life threatening.

One drawback of prostate cancer is that most cancerous tumors in the prostate tend to grow slowly and do not spread and cause harm for decades. When/if caught early, prostate cancer can be treated successfully in more than 90% of cases. It is recommended that men 50 years old and older should be regularly screened for prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer patients with high-grade, aggressive tumors (Gleason scores of 7 or above) were 3.2 times more likely to carry the BRCA2 (BReast CAncer 2)gene mutation than were men in the control group. Carriers of the BRCA1-185delAG (BReast Cancer 2)mutation were also at increased risk of having an aggressive prostate cancer.

Apparently, genetic risk factors for breast cancer are predisposing to prostate cancer.

Although prostate cancer is a unique disease with its unique clinical picture, it is highly linked to other cancers.

In the future, more studies towards genome sequencing will highlight individual disease mechanisms as well as identify common genetic culprits of different diseases.

Who knows ? Identification of prostate cancer mechanism will shed light on another disease that is also prevalent in African men over 60 years old.

We will wait and see within the next 5 years.